Listen:  130.3

The word exorcism means, as the inquirer states, the “casting out of demons.” I would add that it is done by actually “commanding” the demon or demons to come out of a person. If it was the Lord Jesus casting out a demon, He would simply command him to come out. If it was done by an apostle or others, they commanded them to come out “in the name of Jesus Christ.”  A good example of this is found in Acts 16:18, “But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her, And he came out the same hour.” This shows the power of that blessed Name, and illustrates that no matter how powerful demons may be, they are no match for the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, we shall see that demons fear the Lord Jesus and they must obey Him.

A good example of this is found in Luke 8:26-32 which reads, “And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee. And when He went forth to land, there met Him out of the city a certain man, which had demons long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not. (For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the demon into the wilderness.) And Jesus asked him, saying, What is your name? And he said, Legion: because many demons were entered into him. And they besought Him that he would not command them to go out into the deep. And there was there an herd of swine feeding on the mountain: and they besought Him that He would suffer them to enter into them. And He suffered them.” We see in this passage that demons love to possess and control men (or animals).  In Mark’s account of this story we learn also that they love to hurt those whom they possess, for Mark 5:5 says “…he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself.” Super-human strength and nudity also characterized this poor demon-possessed man, as seen in Mark 5:4 and Luke 8:27.  Such was the power of these demons that the man was completely controlled by them.  Yet when confronted by the Lord Jesus Christ, THE DEMONS WERE POWERLESS! We see in verse 28 that they are made to bow before Him and to beg Him not to torment them. Matthew’s account adds something interesting, for Matthew 8:29 reads, “Art Thou come to torment us before the time?” What did they mean by “before the time?” Look at Luke 8:31 again, which says, “And they besought Him that He would not command them to go out into the deep.”  The “deep” is the same word as the words “bottomless pit” in Revelation 20:1, so this means that the demons know that they will eventually be consigned to the bottomless pit and thus they are asking the Lord Jesus not to put them into the abyss “before the time.” Again, they are no match for our blessed Lord Jesus Christ; their doom is sealed!

In Luke 9:1 we see the Lord calling His twelves disciples together and He “…gave them power and authority over all demons.” Later in Luke 10 He appointed seventy others to go out proclaiming His Word accompanied by miracles and we learn in verse 17 that when they returned they said with joy, “Lord, even the demons are subject unto us through Thy name.”  In Mark 16:15 the Lord Jesus commissioned the apostles to “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” and He went on to say in verse 17, “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out demons…” Everywhere we turn we learn the same truth, demons have power over man, but they are stripped of their power when confronted by the Lord Jesus Himself, or by one who has been given, by the Lord, the power to cast them out in His Name!

Other questions may come to mind, such as “Is there demon possession today?”  “What causes a person to become demon-possessed?”  “Do Christians have the same authority as the apostles did in Biblical times to cast out demons?”  Space prevents us from going into these questions at this time but in light of the truth we have had before us, let us praise the Lord for the victory He had over demonic powers (including Satan, the “Prince of demons”) when He walked on this earth and for the ultimate victory He will have over them when they are cast into the bottomless pit for a thousand years (as we see in Revelation 20:1-3), followed by their being cast into the lake of fire forever after the thousand years are finished (as we see in Revelation 20:10).  (130.3)  (DO)